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Topic: Essential Oil Spray? (Read 5162 times)

If this has been discussed and I just missed it while scanning the forums forgive me....

I recieved a tip from a large commercial beek about using liquid smoke dilluted in water in sprayers rather then smokers. So Im planning to try it. What Im wondering is whether or not it could be beneficial to add some of these various essential oils to the brew. I have absolutely nothing to go on here, so I would probably just being trying a couple drops.

Essential oils interfere with the sense of smell, by which all things in the hive are communicated. Some even mimic some of the pheromones. Essential oils are antimicrobial and interfere with the 8,000 microorganisms that need to be living in a healthy colony.

Many threads at many beekeeping websites and blogs cover essential oils in all sorts of combinations. Do they work? Well, I suppose it's all about what the goal is. As MB in the post above states, some are anti-microbial and anti-fungal. Well, that's the EXACT point if you're trying to deter chalkbrood or mold growth in something like thin syrup. Of course the mites don't like it either, but it all comes down to dosing and study. As far as that's concerned, there's no study out there to confirm that spraying thyme oil on your bees will keep the mites at bay. But, as a lot of other things, many have claimed on message boards to have "cracked the code" with essential oils....

I will not and never argue with the opinions of others, but I would like to show the other side as well. Some people do not agree with meds not even the natural ones, (this is not just for bees but goes for people as well, I have a neighbor that does not agree to inoculate his children) but with that said essential oils are natural oils from plants. I have the same plants in my garden around my house and have seen bees buzzing around them. None have died yet, saying that I will say I do agree with MB in a slight way, meaning I wouldn't be feeding my bees the essential oils everyday. I myself will feed it to them every 2-3 months and not during honey harvest. They are your bees and saying such only you can decide what is best for them. We all live in different locations with different pollen and other different factors. Here is just a few links on essential oils. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Beekeeping/Guide_to_Essential_Oilshttp://www.gardenfork.tv/essential-oil-recipe-for-honeybeeshttp://www.bee-commerce.com/content/freedownloads/HoneyBHealthyInfo.pdfDo some research and decide what is good for you. There is many Beek's been doing this decades and do not use anything, then there is some that do use it. I personally do not see that using real natural essential oils a few times in the year. Heck I myself detox my body 2-3 times a year. All said and done much respect to those that feel contrary to my opinion. Different strokes for different folks.

Being a new beek I have so much to learn. I wish I read this bloig before I used Pro Health to day. I say it when I was ordering new hive box's and thought this will be good for the new Nuc if I gave this to them!!!!!After doing a lot of reading and understanding what the oils and Thymol is now I wish I dent spray this on my hives to day. Boy the catalogs will tell you this will boast your hives and make them strong !!!!!

I am vety new to this beekeeping thing, but have wiped down the iinside if hive bodies with a mix of tea tree oil, rosemary and thyme, more as a way to inhibit the bad stuff, not sure if it made a difference. I also made a bee tea with 1:1 syrup to which I added thyme, dandelion tea and chamomile tea. They seemed wait for it in the cold months and it seemed to help my nucs multiply like crazy....i kind of liked the idea of the hernal tea, offered in a hanging chicken feeder to them, once the nectar started they ignored it.Andrea